WASHINGTON, Feb. 23, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Advisory Board Company (NASDAQ: ABCO), a leading provider of insight-driven technology, research, and services for organizations in transforming industries, today announced financial results for the quarter and calendar year ended December 31, 2015.

Highlights from the fourth quarter and calendar year 2015 are as follows (all comparisons are to the quarter and calendar year ended December 31, 2014):

Quarter ending December 31, 2015

Revenue of $205.0 million, an increase of 38%

Contract value of $762.6 million, an increase of 27%

Adjusted EBITDA of $43.6 million, an increase of 102%

Non-GAAP earnings per diluted share of $0.48

Calendar year 2015

Adjusted revenue of $780.8 million, an increase of 37%

Adjusted EBITDA of $171.7 million, an increase of 80%

Non-GAAP earnings per diluted share of $1.51

Robert Musslewhite, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Advisory Board Company, commented, "For the Advisory Board Company, 2015 was another year of delivering deeper, more comprehensive value to our members, thereby increasing the size and power of our relationships as we work in partnership to address the myriad of challenges that our members face. As expected, we finished the year within our guidance range on adjusted revenue, adjusted EBITDA, and non-GAAP earnings per diluted share. Looking ahead to 2016, while we expect to see lower revenue growth, the fundamental characteristics of our business remain sound. We will draw on our differentiated foundation of insight and best practice, unparalleled technology and analytics platform, deep expertise, and strong relationships across our 5,200 members to continue to drive outsized impact on health care and education. Further, even at a lower growth rate, the scalability and earnings power inherent in our model enable us to deliver strong margin expansion and bottom line growth rates for adjusted EBITDA and non-GAAP EPS."

Mr. Musslewhite continued, "At the same time, we continue to make significant investments in innovation across the existing platform as well as into new products and offerings to support our members as they continue to demand support in addressing the numerous challenges they face. In addition to increasing the value delivered to our members, these investments set us up well to expand on both the top and bottom lines well into the future."

Mr. Musslewhite concluded, "We are privileged to serve two mission-driven industries that produce tremendous good. Because of the change and complexity in both health care and education, our members badly need the help we provide, and it is an opportunity through our work to really make a difference. The value we deliver to our members has never been higher; our ability as an $800M+ company to use our scale to create positive change and transform our industries has us all excited and working hard to make 2016 a successful year."

Fourth Quarter Financial Review

Revenue increased 38% to $205.0 million in the quarter ended December 31, 2015, up from $149.0 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2014. Contract value increased 27% to $762.6 million as of December 31, 2015, up from $601.8 million as of December 31, 2014.

Net loss attributable to common stockholders was $101.8 million, or $2.43 per diluted share, for the quarter ended December 31, 2015, compared to net loss attributable to common stockholders of $5.4 million, or $0.15 per diluted share, for the quarter ended December 31, 2014. The increase in net loss was primarily attributable to a goodwill impairment of $95.7 million in the quarter ending December 31, 2015. Adjusted net income was $20.5 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2015, up from $8.9 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2014. Non-GAAP earnings per diluted share was $0.48 for the quarter ended December 31, 2015, up from $0.24 for the quarter ended December 31, 2014.

Adjusted EBITDA increased 102% to $43.6 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2015, up from $21.6 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2014.

Revenue increased 34% to $768.3 million for calendar year 2015, up from $571.8 million for calendar year 2014. Adjusted revenue, a non-GAAP financial measure that reflects an adjustment for the effect on revenue of fair value adjustments to acquired deferred revenue, increased 37% to $780.8 million for calendar year 2015, up from $571.8 million for calendar year 2014. Net loss attributable to common stockholders was $115.5 million, or $2.76 per diluted share, for calendar year 2015, compared to net income attributable to common stockholders of $4.8 million, or $0.13 per diluted share, for calendar year 2014. Adjusted EBITDA was $171.7 million for calendar year 2015, up from $95.7 million for calendar year 2014. Adjusted net income was $64.2 million for calendar year 2015, up from $47.3 million for calendar year 2014. Non-GAAP earnings per diluted share was $1.51 for calendar year 2015, compared to $1.28 for calendar year 2014.

Share Repurchase

During the three months ended December 31, 2015, the Company repurchased approximately 392,000 shares of its common stock at a total cost of $20.0 million. Since 2004, the Company has repurchased approximately 17.8 million shares of its common stock at a total cost of $451.8 million.

Outlook for Calendar Year 2016

The Company is providing financial guidance for calendar year 2016. For the year, the Company expects revenue to be in a range of $810 million to $830 million, adjusted EBITDA to be in a range of $188 million to $195 million, and non-GAAP earnings per diluted share to be in a range of $1.63 to $1.73. For the year, the Company expects stock-based compensation expense to be approximately $32 million, interest expense to be approximately $19 million, amortization from acquisition-related intangible assets to be approximately $29 million, amortization from non-acquisition related assets to be approximately $52 million, capital expenditures to be approximately $60 million, and the Company's effective tax rate to be approximately 40%.

Conference Call Information

As previously announced, the Company will hold a conference call to discuss its fourth quarter and calendar year performance this evening, February 23, 2016, at 5:30 p.m. Eastern Time. The conference call will be available via live webcast on the Company's website at www.advisory.com/IR. To participate by telephone, the dial-in number is 888.336.7150. Participants are advised to dial in at least five minutes prior to the call to register. The webcast will be archived for seven days from 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesday, February 23, 2016, until 11:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesday, March 1, 2016. The Company invites all interested parties to attend the conference call, including the lenders under the Company's senior secured credit facilities.

A supplemental presentation of information complementary to the information presented in this release and that will be discussed on the conference call will be made available on the Company's website at www.advisory.com/IR prior to the conference call and will be archived for the same duration as the webcast.

About the Advisory Board Company

The Advisory Board Company is the leading provider of insight-driven technology, research, and services for organizations in transforming industries. Through its innovative membership model, the Company collaborates with more than 230,000 leaders at 5,200 member organizations to elevate performance and solve their most pressing problems. The Company provides strategic guidance, actionable insights, cloud-based software solutions, and comprehensive implementation and management services. For more information, visit www.advisory.com.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

This news release presents information about the Company's adjusted revenue, adjusted net income, non-GAAP earnings per diluted share, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted effective tax rate, and adjusted weighted average common shares outstanding-diluted, which are non-GAAP financial measures provided as a complement to the results provided in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America ("GAAP"). A reconciliation of each of the foregoing historical non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable historical GAAP financial measures is provided in the accompanying tables found at the end of this release for each of the fiscal periods indicated.

Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this news release that relate to future results and events are forward-looking statements and are based on the Company's expectations as of the date of this news release. In some cases, you can identify these statements by such forward-looking words as "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "guidance," "intend," "may," "outlook," "plan," "potential," "should," "will," "would," or similar words or expressions. Forward-looking statements in this news release include the Company's expectations regarding its performance and results for fiscal 2015 with respect to adjusted revenue, adjusted EBITDA, non-GAAP earnings per diluted share, stock-based compensation expense, debt expense, amortization from acquisition-related intangible assets, capital expenditures, and the Company's effective tax rate.

Actual results and events in future periods may differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements because of a number of risks, uncertainties, and other factors, including those relating to: factors that adversely affect the financial condition of the health care and higher education industries; federal and state law and regulations governing the health care and higher education industries and our members' and our respective compliance with those applicable laws and regulations; the Company's ability to sustain high renewal rates on its memberships; maintenance of the Company's reputation and expansion of its name recognition; the Company's ability to offer new and valuable products and services; effects of competition; the Company's ability to maintain a highly-skilled workforce; unsuccessful design or implementation of software or delivery of consulting and management services; delays in generating revenue; effects of federal and state privacy and security laws and cyber attacks and other data security breaches; compliance with federal regulations governing electronic transactions; service disruptions and operational or security failures; ability to collect and maintain member and third party data and to obtain proper permissions and waivers for use and disclosure of information received from members or on their behalf; liability for failure to provide accurate information or for deficient submissions to third-party payors; compliance with federal and state laws governing healthcare fraud and abuse or reimbursement; maintenance of third-party providers and strategic alliances and entry into new alliances; licensing and integration of third-party technologies and data; protection of the Company's intellectual property; claims of infringement, misappropriation, or violation of proprietary rights of third parties; limitations associated with use of open source technology; changes to estimates and assumptions used to prepare the Company's consolidated financial statements; any significant increase in bad debt in excess of recorded estimates; failure to realize the anticipated benefits of the Royall acquisition; diversion of management's attention from operations by activities focused on the integration of Royall's business; business and financial risk associated with the pursuit of acquisition opportunities; delays in the delivery by Evolent Health to the Company of its financial statements; any significant additional impairment of the Company's goodwill; the Company's ability to realize a return on its strategic investments; the level of the Company's debt service obligations and restrictions on its operations under debt covenants; potential imposition of sales and use taxes on sales of the Company's services; the Company's ability to realize fully its deferred tax assets; inherent limitations in, and the potential impact of any failure to maintain, effective internal control over financial reporting; effects of issuance of additional capital stock; and provisions in the Company's charter and bylaws that could discourage takeover attempts.

This list of risks, uncertainties, and other factors is not complete. The Company discusses some of these matters more fully, as well as certain risk factors that could affect the Company's business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects, in its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Company's annual report on Form 10-KT for the transition period ended December 31, 2014 and its quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K. These filings are available for review through the Securities and Exchange Commission's website at www.sec.gov. Any or all forward-looking statements the Company makes may turn out to be wrong, and can be affected by inaccurate assumptions the Company might make or by known or unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, including those identified in this news release. Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements made in this news release, which speak only as of its date. The Company does not undertake to update any of its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of circumstances or events that arise after the date they are made, new information, or otherwise.

Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures

This news release presents information about the Company's adjusted revenue, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted net income, non-GAAP earnings per diluted share, adjusted effective tax rate, and adjusted weighted average common shares outstanding-diluted, which are non-GAAP financial measures provided as a complement to the results provided in accordance with GAAP.

A reconciliation of each of the foregoing historical non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable historical GAAP financial measures is provided below for each of the fiscal periods indicated. It is not practicable to provide a reconciliation of forecasted adjusted revenue, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted net income, non-GAAP earnings per diluted share, or adjusted effective tax rate to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures because certain items required for the forecast of such GAAP financial measures, including fair value adjustments to acquisition-related earn-out liabilities, equity in income (loss) of unconsolidated entity, and gains and losses on investment in common stock warrants, cannot reasonably be estimated or predicted at this time.